List of Countries That Experienced Massive Blackouts

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In addition to Spain and Portugal, several other countries experienced blackouts. Disruptions in the power supply have had a significant impact and caused chaos in public services.

On April 28, 2025, the power supply in Spain and Portugal was suddenly disrupted. This disruption in the power supply paralyzed the transportation system, disrupted mobile communication, and delayed medical procedures. Nearly 60 million people on the Iberian Peninsula were forced to live in darkness for almost a full day on Monday, April 28, 2025. Massive blackouts can be suspected due to various factors, ranging from rare atmospheric phenomena, as claimed by the electricity provider in Portugal, to technical issues, network overload, or even the potential for cyberattacks.

The following are some countries that have experienced power outages:

1. India

India experienced one of the largest blackouts in the world in July 2012. The outage lasted for two consecutive days on July 30 and 31. As reported by Al Jazeera, the blackout paralyzed most of the northern and eastern regions of the country. The affected population ranged from 620 to 670 million people, or roughly half of the population of the Taj Mahal Land. This blackout caused severe transportation disruptions, traffic chaos in various cities, and trapped hundreds of coal miners underground because the lifts were not functioning. Train services were also halted, and hospitals had to rely on backup generators.

2. Pakistan

Pakistan also has a dark record of national blackouts. On January 23, 2023, almost the entire country was plunged into darkness due to technical disturbances in the national power grid. As reported by Al Jazeera, the Energy Minister of Pakistan stated that the frequency of the national grid suddenly dropped in the morning. Although the Pakistani government at that time did not consider it a major crisis, the blackout disrupted the activities of the citizens and businesses.

3. Bangladesh

Electricity supply in Bangladesh, India's neighboring country, has also experienced a nationwide blackout. On October 4, 2022, an outage occurred in almost 75 percent of the country's territory. The number of affected citizens reached around 140 million people. As reported by Al Jazeera, officials from the Bangladesh Power Development Board stated that the blackout occurred due to transmission failures, causing the electricity supply from the power plants not to flow to Dhaka and other major cities.

4. United States

Indonesia has also experienced blackouts, especially in the densely populated islands of Java and Bali. On August 18, 2005, a simultaneous blackout affected Java and Bali. More than 100 million people were affected by the outage, which, according to Power Technology, was one of the worst in the world. This outage caused a complete blackout in Jakarta and Banten for three hours and a partial blackout in West Java, Central Java, East Java, and Bali. Power disruptions resulted in significant economic losses, with train travel cancellations, flight delays at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, and delays in the surgical schedules.

Blackouts also occurred again in 2019. Prolonged power outages occurred on August 4, 2019, in the Jabodetabek region (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi) and Banten. This blackout lasted about 24 hours, causing significant disruptions to daily activities, businesses, and public services.

Rindi Ariska also contributed to the writing of this article

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